Covering the Angels and baseball in general for MLB.com. E-mail me at Alden.Gonzalez@mlb.com and follow on Twitter @Alden_Gonzalez.

Before things get real …

I wanted to end this regular season properly — by giving you a way to totally disagree with me.

Here are my awards picks …

NL MVP: Ryan Braun

As I wrote recently, Braun deserves the hardware because his numbers are very comparable to those of his only competition — Matt Kemp — except he performed for a playoff team. Sure, it isn’t Kemp’s fault the Dodgers weren’t even close to the NL West title (and if it weren’t for him, they may be one of baseball’s worst clubs). But I believe that in order for a player on a non-playoff team to win MVP, his numbers have to easily be better than everyone else’s. I think Braun’s stack up pretty well.

AL MVP: Justin Verlander

Yes, I wrote a month ago that Verlander isn’t worthy of the MVP. But a lot has changed in a month. I’m not totally against giving a pitcher the MVP trophy. I just think that a starting pitcher (especially a starting pitcher in these days, when workloads aren’t as expansive as they used to be) should only get it in the most extreme of circumstances — during a transcendent season when no position player sticks out. Well, that is now the case. Adrian Gonzalez and Jacoby Ellsbury can’t get it for a collapsing Red Sox team, Jose Bautista fell off a bit down the stretch, and I’m not comfortable giving it to Curtis Granderson when teammate Robinson Cano is clearly the better player. Verlander had been outstanding this season, and that continued in the final month. It’s time.

NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw

There’s a lot of deserving pitchers in the Senior Circuit, but when you win a Triple Crown like Kershaw did — leading in wins, ERA and strikeouts — you get the Cy Young. I prioritize players on playoff teams for the MVP; not for the Cy.

AL Cy Young: Verlander

I’m giving it to the Tigers’ ace — even though I’d be tempted to try and create history by having the first pitcher win an MVP and not a Cy Young.

NL Rookie of the Year: Craig Kimbrel

Kimbrel may have fallen off when his team needed him down the stretch, but he was still fantastic all season, setting a rookie saves record and (until the very end) having a major impact for a contending team. No NL rookie had close to as big an impact.

AL Rookie of the Year: Jeremy Hellickson

Ivan Nova’s numbers (16 wins, 3.70 ERA) are pretty comparable, but Hellickson put up 13 wins, had a 2.95 ERA and was the heavily-relied-upon No. 3 starter for a Rays team that rode its starting rotation to a surprising trip to the playoffs.

NL Manager of the Year: Kirk Gibson

Is there any question? The D-backs went from last in the NL West to first in the NL West without adding any high-impact players to their roster. Gibson, in his first full season as manager, gets a lot of credit for that.

AL Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon

Nothing to really argue about here, either. Maddon guided a team with the second-lowest payroll in baseball’s toughest division to the most improbable of playoff runs. A big reason why the Rays made it stems from the culture the easy-going Maddon has created. It works.

2 Comments

Yeah, it would seem that way, and looked up who palyed what at various stages. Cesar H. palyed 43 games at SS in VSL in o7 and 12 at 2B. The following season Edgar Duran took over (’08) and palyed 51 games at SS (Hernandez 51 at 2B), and it would seem the range was better as in 7 more games Duran had 41 more assists and better F%.931 to .920 (and a better R/F (though what that means unknown to me , and as they fed each other at 2B and SS. Then in ’09 in GCL C. Hernandez had 38 games at 2B while SS was manned by Duran (31 games ) and Jonathon Villar (28 games).Then last season in WPT it was C. Hernadez 65 games at 2B and Duran 71 games at SS. They are somewhat comparable there allowing for Hernandez palyed most all the 2B and Duran most all the SS, and the range factors are influenced by feeding each other. 2 things may be that comparing the full season at SS between Cesar and Duran, Duran seemed to have more range and the organization has preferred Duran and others as a SS.

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